1807 2nd Edition of The New American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation, Containing all the Tables Necessary...
Newburyport, MA: Edmund M. Blumt, 1807. 2nd Edition. Octavo. Fair. Item #18421
1807 2nd Edition of what Howes calls the "First accurate navigator's guide' and an institution in Nautical writing, possibly the most important navigator in American history."
Newburyport editions are very scarce as many were burned in the Great Newburyport Fire of 1811, after which printing was moved to New York City.
"Often termed the greatest book in all the history of navigation, this intellectual achievement of our early culture was indispensable to the maritime and commercial expansion of the nineteenth century" (Grolier).
Widely regarded as the most influential work in the history of navigation. Bowditch published his first revision of the navigator by J.H. Moore in 1799. Discovering more than 8000 errors, in the work of Moore, Bowditch decided to publish his own work, "The New American Practical Navigator", in 1802 and it quickly became the preeminent and most used work on celestial and maritime navigation. Bowditch's work has been updated and published every year since and is still published today.
This 1807 revised edition features additional improvements from the 1802 edition with more than 80 additional pages. 679pp + ads.
Original leather binding with significant wear, including a large chip at crown of spine and the leather split down the center of spine. Sewn binding holding well, though. Boards and edges with rubbing and wear. Black spine label with titling in gilt.
A few sheets laid in with contemporary notes in iron gall ink. Occasional notations in pencil throughout. Endpapers with early notations in contemporary ink. First page of preface detached, but present, with significant wear around edges. Mild foxing throughout. Short separations of outer joints. Missing pages iii-vi and plates 1 & 7. Lacking map.
Campbell, 5; Howes, B657
Overall an uncommon and early Newburyport edition of this classic and important nautical work. A yeoman's copy at best.
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